I gave out a groan as consciousness slowly returned to me. The first thing I noticed was pain that was shooting all through out my body, remembering vaguely about getting thrown into a wall. My eyes slowly opened, allowing light and several figures to fill my line of site.
"Ah, I see yer finally awake." A gruff voice spoke in a friendly manner. As I let my vision clear, I found myself staring at my dwarven friend, Cenkic, along with a healer and several troll guards. "I knew it'a take more then an ogre chuckin ya into a wall ta take ye out." He said with a small smile.
As the healers magic flowed through my body, the pain I felt began to disappear. I returned his smile with one of my own, showing my sharpened teeth as I did so.
"I sssee you sssurvived. I take it we won?" I asked, hissing my words as I did so.
He nodded, and before more was said between the two of us, the troll guards lifted their weapons and ushered us back into the familiar large cell that he had been living in. As we entered, I was greeting by the other gladiators.
"Cenkic, Nas, glad to see you two are alive. Are you badly hurt?" Naith, a young female tauren asked.
"Na, Nas here made quite an impression." Cenkic began. "He caused quite the riot fightin three ogres bare handed, and survivin getting chucked into a wall so much that ol' Bloodstone whipped one of his own healers at take care of dis snake. Last thing he wanted was a naga with a bad back." He nudged me playfully. It hadn't taken me long to get use to the dwarfs attempt humor to keep spirits high.
Another female, a goblin, laying on her bed, looked at the two of us and waved her hand in disinterest. "See, I told ya there was nothing ta worry about." I recognized her as Parla, a very crafty rogue.
Karadan, another rogue and a human who I had recently gotten to know, disagreed. "You two had me a bit worried there. I thought you had gotten pounded into the ground or some such."
"Ha! It will take quite a bit to take those two down!" The half-orc Dak'tar said proudly, giving us a orcish salute.
I must admit that I found it interesting that here, fighting in an arena every day for my life, that I would find a kinship that had never existed before in my life. Perhaps I should back up a bit. My name is Nas'kara'nas, a naga from whom was banished from his home for helping surface dwellers. It was only a few weeks back that me and my only two friends, Cenkic Arkadas and Dak'tar Thunderblade were captured by the forest trolls and now forced into the arena, run by a powerful forest troll by the name of Bloodstone of the Gurubashi Clan. It was here that I became friends with the other prisoners, and I find myself wishing that we could spend our friendship while free from the arenas walls. Instead, though, we find ourselves as warriors fighting for our lives.
"At leassst the lassst of the battlesss are over. Now we can finally ressst for a bit." I said.
Cenkic nodded in agreement. "Aye, we all deserve a wee bit o' rest after tadays bouts."
There was a unanimous vote on that remark, and began getting into their beds, at least those who hadn't already. Ten able bodies filled the prison room besides myself, Karaden, Cenkic, Dak'tar, Parla and Naith. Kilrim, an orc warrior, a night elven priestess by the name of Onica Shadowmoon, as well as Sari Stoneheart, a dwarven tinker, and a half-elf female wizard named Tashi Kandaras made the rest of our group. Out of all of his cellmates, he had grown to like Naith, Karadan, and Tashi Although the 'home' given to us by the trolls weren't much, there were a few books, and more importantly, instruments that I could play with the others. Bloodstone, the troll in charge of the Gurubashi Arena, had given us the instruments to help keep the others from rioting, giving us something to do. While I played guitar, Tashi would sing while Cenkic playing drums, and Naith with an Orcarina. Together we could create quite the soothing music, helping everyone relax and allow them to doze off. One by one the music slowly started to fade as sleep began to fall onto the players, until I only found myself playing. Quietly I placed my instrument down and moved to the cot that was my own bed. I laid down, but sleep did not come to me. I had not told the others that I had a very bad feeling about something, but I couldn't figure out what is was.
"Sssomething isss going to happen, I can feel it." I said to myself. As these thoughts continued to plague me, sleep finally crept upon me, and I soon slept like all the others.
Morning came like all of the others in the last few weeks, me being the first to rise from my slumber. I had learned to survive with less hours of sleep that so many others seemed to need. Slowly and quietly moving myself from the bed, I moved away from the room. Despite being held captive by the trolls, we were not being treated terribly. Living quarters were giant, more then large enough to hold the ten occupants comfortably. Also, in another, smaller room that was connected to our prison was a room filled with books, most of them on the history of the world. While most would find such books boring, I find anything on history quite fascinating. For over an hour I read the books that talked of the war between the humans and the orcs, reading of how the Alliance was nearly defeated, only saved by the faction break within the horde. For an hour I read on the details of the war in the dark, once again being thankful that I had been blessed with dark vision as I continued to read the books of heros in both the Allaince and the Hordes past. I was brought out of the lands of history when the scent of food and trolls filled my nostrils. Closing the book, I quietly slithered toward the others, who were rudely awakened when a troll smacked the bars.
"Hey der, breakfast be ready for all of ya. Be eatin quickly, cause your gonna be needin your strength, and donna be tryin anytin funny." He said as he opened the gates. No one made an attempted lunge for the gates, or shout a battle cry and charge at the trolls, but sat quietly as the food was placed inside. The group got up, and found that I was guarding the food, giving it equally between everyone. They had learned quickly that they could trust me, for I always saved the last for myself, which was hardly necessary, being that there was enough food for everyone. We ate and discussed events about our past lives, explaining on this day how each and every one of us were captured or sent to the arena. Some of the stories were rather interesting to hear. All of us talked for a few hours, and the trolls came down stairs once again.
"Alrighty den. It'd be time for, ah let me see…" He pulled out a small sheet of paper and looked at it closely. " Parla, Tashi, and Kilrim, you will be fightin first up."
The two got up, and followed the trolls out toward the armory.
"I hope they will be alright." I said to the group.
Daktar gave a bellied laugh. "I have fought along side them, they will be able to handle themselves."
Karadan only shook his head. "I hope you're right Daktar. It seems the crowds have been getting board as late. I hear Bloodstone has something special planned, for he had a big speech last night, though I'm not sure what."
"This does not bold well for us." Naith said, looking down at the ground. "We really don't need any more problems then we already have."
We continued talking for nearly ten minutes, and as we did, I began to wonder if what Karadan had said had anything to do with the uneasy feeling that he had been feelings, and feared that he might be correct. Overhead we could hear the cheers of the crowd, and then one final, large cheer. We heard the doors open, and turned to see if our friends were coming back, or if we were to receive news which none of us wanted to hear. We saw them coming back, and were instantly relived, only for a new kind of worry to fill us. Kilrim was leaning on Tashi for support, who had a few cuts and wounds on her, along with Parla at their side. My eyes went wide in horror as they closed in. Kilrim had a white cloth quickly turning red covering his arm. His right hand was gone. An uproar shot through the group as they were forced inside, and both Onica and Naith rushed over to the orcs side whose face was contorted in pain. They began casting their healing spells to stop the bleeding.
I could not believe what had happened, and turned to the others. "What caussed thisss!"
Tashi turned to me, and I saw that the shock had not yet completely left her eyes. "They…we had to fight…six ghouls."
That caught everyone's attention, for it was the first time any of us had ever heard of one another being forced to fight undead. Apparently Tashi managed to nail the first one with a magic missile, causing it to fall, and that caused all of them to charge her first. The other two had jumped in the way, Parla with two daggers, and Kilram with a large ax. A huge battle ensued, and poor Tashi had only her staff and a single ice spell to use in an offensive attack. During the fight, one of the ghouls attacking Parla and Tashi had unexpectedly leapt toward Kiram after he took down his two targets with one powerful swing, catching him off guard and effectively biting his hand clean off. We had little time to watch over the injured group, for the trolls were quick to call upon the next victims.
"Next we be havin Karadan, Naith, and Dak'tar will be fightin." The forest troll announced.
Without much of a choice, the three got up and went outside. Naith gave a sympathetic look at Kilrim before being pushed beyond reach. Kilrim still groaned in pain as Onica did what she could for the wounded orc.
"I'm not likin the looks of this. Bloodstone is tryin ta make it difficult on us." Cenkic said as he looked at the wound.
"I hope the others make it back alright." Onica gave out a prayer under the name of her goddess. As we heard the crowds cheer as their battle begun, we heard our prison door open. Curious, we turned and found a female forest troll entering cell, holding several bottles in her hands and around her belt, as well as cloth that could be used as bandages.
"I be hearin one of de gladiators was hurt pretty badly mon. I be here ta give ye a few potions to ye can save de rest of yer spells. You gonna need it." As she walked toward us, she looked side to side, and dropped to a whisper. "Oh, donna mention dis to da other guards."
I recognized the female forest troll as Sana'taya, one of the very few guards who was kind to our group. She would bring us extra food, give us healing potions when we had been badly hurt, tried to make sure our cloths were a bit more then rags.
"Onccce again we thank you for your hossspitality in thessse conditions." I bowed before her.
"Don't worry 'bout it to much. I know how ya be feelin, so I just be tryin ta do what I can." With that she got up and promptly left, making sure to lock the door, then moved back to standing guard for our cell.
"I could like her a wee more if she'd be kind enough at let us out." Cenkic said.
Of course we knew that it was impossible at this time for that to happen. If she did, then not only would anyone trying to escape suffer by being put up against enemies far beyond their skills to defeat, but she would also find herself in the arena. That would be asking to much for her to do, and we all knew it. We gave Kilrim one of the three healing potions, which continued on the work that Onica and Naith had begun. The bleeding now stopped, and he was not in as much pain as he had been before. I had noticed, that something seemed to be bothering her, much more then usual. I had to wonder what was happening in the Arena. Kilrim let out a grunt of pain, and I turned to see Onica doing all she could for him.
"Just take it easy, good orc." Onica said, trying to do the best she could to comfort him.
I admit I felt sorry for the warrior. He was proud and strong, one who never flinched in the face of danger in the arena was now missing a hand, which would severely hurt his fighting capabilities. One again, huge cheers shot through into the prisons, and we saw the others returning. Karadan and Dak'tar were working together to hold an unconscious Naith who was missing one of her horns, all three of them looked in pretty bad shape. As they entered the cell, they placed Naith down, and then they collapsed on their beds, panting hard. As another group from the cells on the other side were called, we were able to learn what happened.
"They sicked centaurs on us," Karadan began. "twice our number. Th…they went after Naith first. We tried to keep them away from her, but they began overwhelming us…she began to fight herself."
That caught me by surprise. It was rare that Naith ever actually battled. She did not like violence in the least, and only attacked if she was struck first.
"They were armed to the teeth, and well armored. I…I'm amazed we made it out without at least one casualty. I thought Naith was dead when one slammed his ax on her head, but it seems her horn blocked it pretty good." Dak'tar huffed out.
I grumbled a bit before speaking. "Thingsss are getting worssse. I hate it when Bloodssstone decidessss to make the battlesss difficult."
The group laid down and did their best to rest like the others from the first battle. Another group of gladiators was called from our level, and I watched as they were led outside. Just by looking at them, I could tell only one knew how to fight with any skills, and I wondered what would happen, and if any would return. Deciding to do what I could, I joined Onica and Cenkic helping to bandage our injured comrades, having some skill in first aid. The doors opened, and I looked to see the returning warriors. Only the female returned, and she looked badly injured. The battles were fierce, and I had to guess they were so because of the lack of spectators as of late. They came back to our cell, and opened the gate.
"Alrighty den. It'd be Nas'kara'nas's turn, as well as Cenkic, Sari, and Onica."
We all turned to one another, and I could see the worry in their eyes, and I have to admit, I was worried myself. I had to wonder what Bloodstone had in store for us. This meant that the group would have to go without a healer for a time. Luckily the groups condition was stabilized at the moment, so they weren't going to die on use anytime soon. We exited, and I gave a bow to them before being led down the hall. Once again my mind raced as we walked, well, slithered in my case, down the hall, taking into account everything in the area after we went upstairs, which we only saw right before and right after a battle. If we were to ever escape, I had to do the best I could in memorizing locations of doors, how many guards were at each one, likely storage rooms, and other facilities to that respect. I also had to wonder what it would be we were fighting, what terrible creatures would we be pitted up against, and what deadly traps would be called upon to end our lives? We entered the armory, where a large stash of simple weapons sat in neatly stacked rows as two trolls, a male and a female stood inside with various other weapons beside them normally not seen in the armory, and my eyes went wide as I saw the weapons. The female troll spoke to us.
"Ye, naga, will be usin dis trident and net. Dey will be your only weapons in dis fight."
I must admit, I felt excitement when I saw the weapons, for when I was captured, I had used a specially made trident, and this would be the first time in weeks I've been given the opportunity to fight with one. "Ye, dwarf girl, will be recivin dis rope, a single tangle foot bag, and a dagger. For da male dwarf, two short swords for ya. Now for the night elf gal, here be two daggers for ya, and a scroll. All of ye but da naga will be receivin armor."
All of us took the weapons and items, me probably the only one with glee on my face getting a familiar weapon back into my hands and we were told today's battle. We would be up against twelve harpies, and out of them we had to capture at least one, or we would not be feed any food for the next today's, something we could not survive without. My heart sank at hearing this, for we would be at a huge disadvantage despite the fact that the harpies would be completely unarmed. With little choice, we were all lead to the arena. The familiar cheers of the crowd pounded my ears. The place was packed more then usual, and I could guess that the other battles had been pretty fierce and bloody. The doors on the opposite end of the arena, and the harpies came out, and I was stunned at seeing them. Harpies were known to be vicious and vile creatures, one of the most disgusting and worst kept humanoids known, but these ones were very well groomed, and some could even stay beautiful. As each one took to the air, I saw a dark and evil design nearly all of them. They looked eager to tear us apart. All but one of them. The last one to take off was smaller then the other harpies, and she flew a bit clumsily, and rather then a look of evil, she looked frightened and unsure of herself. Our gazes met, and she must have guessed that I had locked onto her, because she showed signs of fear. I knew that look of fear, and realized that she was quite young. I also took notice that all over the wall, along with the spectators, were trolls, ten at least, all armed with heavy crossbows. The harpies would not be able to escape unless they all bolted at once. I heard the audience roars die down, and a voice that was all to familiar to me boomed over the Arena. Bloodstone.
"I be thankin ye all for comin all da way down here. As I have promised, da battles would not be dull or boring, as many of da bouts you have seen have been quite good, wouldn't y'all agree?" Roars of approval came from the stands, and he continued. "Now, ye be seein someone who y'all be quite familiar with eh? Da naga, Nas'kara'nas and his companions must kill all but one harpy, and try to keep da one alive and well away from da others. Are ye all ready for a battle!" The crowd cheered again.
With that he gave a signal, and a giant gong was hit, and with the sound, all of the harpies dived right for us. As I readied myself, I realized I needed to keep the harpies occupied away from the others until they were ready to do what ever necessary.
"Bird for brainsss, come and get me, you poor excussse for fliersss! Ssstrike at me, you cowardly birdsss!" I realize that this is not a well thought out insult, and quite lacking in most cases, but most harpies are not to bright anyways.
Eleven of them came at me right away, the young one still floating in the sky, and my guess she only charged forward with the others when she realized she would be killed from the trolls anyways. Dropping the net, my clawed hand caught the closest harpy by the foot that tried to lunge at me, and with a powerful burst of my natural strength, I sent her into the ground, and plunged my weapon into her. The second closest tried to rake me with her claws, but she didn't try hard enough, for her attack did not penetrate my skin. Whirling around, I plunged my trident into her chest and slammed her into the ground. The others began raining down upon me, and even my scales were not enough to keep me protected from their deadly rake attacks. Then the attack stopped, and I was able to look around and saw the most peculiar thing. Two harpies were on the ground on top of one another, one cursing as if it had been landed on, and another rubbing its eyes, as if it had been blinded. I acted quickly, slamming my trident through the two of them, taking both out in one quick attack. Another lay on the ground, dead from a dagger thrown into its back, then violently pulled out.
Cenkic was covering the other two girls as Sari used the dagger she tied onto the rope to use as a ranged weapon while Onica kept them healed. Apparently they had caused quite a ruckus. Picking up the net, I rushed over to help, and found two grounded harpies ready to fight me in close quarters combat. Out of the twelve, only six were still airborne, but seven were still alive. A noise overhead caught my attention, and I saw the young charging for me, desperation and fear in her eyes. I threw the net at once, and called upon a small spell that I had personally created myself. A small wind gust hit the net, accelerating it toward the harpy. Caught by surprise, she couldn't dodge the net in time, and found herself entangled within it. I moved to the side as she crashed into the ground, narrowly avoiding the harpies that were now trying to kill me on the ground. I plunged my trident into the first harpy, but felt the claws of the other harpy burrow into my flesh. Anger and rage filled me, and I I recognized this as a momentary blood lust, but it was all I needed as I pushed forward, and as I dug my trident out of the harpies chest, my fangs sunk into the throat of the second. A horrid screech filled my ears as blood filled my nostrils and mouth, and it was here that I realized what I was doing, and I released my hold, but the damage was done as she fell to the ground a mix of fear and pain in her dead vassalage.
A scream caught my attention, and I looked to find Onica being carried away into the skies by the harpies. She right over me when I noticed something fall from her hands. Catching it, I saw it was the scroll. I opened it quickly, and found it to be something I could use. Two other harpies were beginning to converge on her as she was lifted high enough to be out of reach of our attacks, and not high enough to be attacked by the guards. The harpies would rip her to shreds, then throw her body back into the arena. Quickly I read the scroll, and the harpy with Onica suddenly stopped, frozen in mid-air. Onica slipped through the claws of the harpy, and she screamed as she plummeted to the ground below. Dropping my weapon, I moved as fast as I possibly could, faster then I had ever moved before. I used my tail as a spring and leapt hard as I reached out. The night elf landed right into my arms with a great force. I yelled in pain a I felt my shoulder become dislocated. I had barley enough time to register this pain when a claw sunk deep into my back, tearing a nice chunk of my flesh out of me. I turned, and found that there were only three harpies left, including the one who had just broke out of the spell cast on her. The others had been killed by the two dwarves who had worked well as a team. They had dispatched three of the harpies already, and they were moving to help me out. I tried slashing at them, but the loss of blood, skin, and the dislocated shoulder was making it too difficult to fight. Cenkic leapt into the air and let loose a battle cry I had never heard before as he leaped on top of one of the harpies, brining it down. Then I heard what sounded like a minor explosion, and saw the tangle foot bag was in the air, and caught one of the other airborne harpies. As the other harpies were busy dealing with the two dwarves, I saw the last one trying to make an escape out of the next. Moving forward, I caught her before she could get out.
"Do not struggle…you will survive…I don't…want you…to die…" I managed to get out. The young harpy stared at me with fear and disbelief that she would live, and not meet the same fate as her fellow wing mates, at least not by my hands. It was then that I fell to the ground, doing all I could to keep conscious. I barley registered hearing that we were the victories as it took two forest trolls to carry me back to the cell while the two dwarves helped carry the unconscious Onica to her cell. The force of me catching her had knocked the wind out of her. I was also able to register the harpy girl being removed from the battle grounds as well. As we were placed in the cell, I realized I probably looked just as bad as the others. There was something wrong as soon as I entered. I could practically smell their fear. Onica was just starting to wake up, so this would be the best time to figure out what was up.
"Isss…isss sssomething wrong ?" I asked. The others in the group looked at the others questionably as Onica tended to my wounds.
Parla looked at me with cold fear in her eyes, something I had never seen in her, or any of the others. "I just heard about the newest recruit for the Arena that might be housed with us…"
I still did not grasp the message. What could be so dangerous as to be afraid of it after all we had been through? "And? What of it? We get plenty of new people all the time."
She still looked at me with that same unfamiliar fear in her eyes. "How many of them…are Doomguards?"
Authors Note- Well, what do you all think? This is my first true attempt with a Warcraft story, so I'm still working out the kinks and the like. Don't worry, most of the stories won't be from the books, I just found this a good starting point. Reviews most welcome.